Blog Metrics

There are two concepts that surface when targeting media plans to blogs: conversations and conversation phrases. A conversation is a collection of authors/sites and their audience linked by relevant content. A conversation phrase is a combination of keywords and keyword phrases used to associate an author/site, its content and audiences to a conversation.

Conversation Size

The following metrics will help advertisers understand the breadth and depth of discussion happening in the blogosphere about specific topics and in which consumers are engaged. These conversation metrics will guide media planners in their campaign planning and execution.

Number of Conversation Relevant Sites

The count of sites in the conversation whose content contains conversation phrases from the client’s Request for Proposal (RFP) or Insertion Order (IO).

Number of Conversation Relevant Links

The count of links to (in-links) and from (out-links) content that contains conversation phrases from the client’s RFP or IO across all sites identified for and/or supporting the campaign plan.

Conversation Reach

The number of unique visitors (monthly) across sites in the conversation.

Site Relevance

The following metric can help an advertiser understand relevancy of the site and its content to the conversation phrases to which the media plan is targeted. By looking at the relevancy of the site’s content compared to other sites, a media planner can better understand the impact of an advertisement on that site.

Conversation Density of Conversation Relevant Posts

The percentage for which conversation phrases from the client’s RFP or IO match Post content on the sites identified in the campaign media plan. Unlike SEO keyword density, this percentage is expressed across all posts on the site and not for a single page.

Author Credibility

The following metrics help an advertiser understand the credibility of the authors participating in the conversation. By looking at the length of time an author has been posting on a topic, the relevancy of the author’s posts among his/her peers and the frequency of the author’s posts, a media planner can better understand the impact of an advertisement on that author’s site.

Number of Conversation Relevant Posts on the Site

The number of posts on the site with content containing conversation phrases from the client’s RFP or IO.

Number of Links to Conversation Relevant Posts on the Site

The count of links to (in-links) and from (out-links) content containing conversation phrases from the client’s RFP or IO for the site identified for and/or included in the campaign media plan.

Earliest Post Date for Conversation Relevant Posts

The earliest post date for content containing conversation phrases from the client’s RFP or IO for the site identified for and/or included in the campaign media plan.

Latest Post Date for Conversation Relevant Posts

The most recent post date for content containing conversation phrases from the client’s RFP or IO for the site identified for and/or included in the campaign media plan.

Duration Between Earliest and Last Post Date for Conversation Relevant Posts

The time between a site’s first posting and latest post for content containing conversation phrases from the client’s RFP or IO for the site identified for and/or included in the campaign media plan.

Content Freshness and Relevance

The following metrics help an advertiser understand the freshness and relevance of the content on which their advertisement will appear. These metrics are important because media planners can better understand the impact of an advertisement across sites and their content within a campaign.

Earliest Post Date for Conversation Relevant Posts

The earliest post date for content containing conversation phrases from the client’s RFP or IO for the site identified for and/or included in the campaign media plan.

Latest Post Date for Conversation Relevant Posts

The most recent post date for content containing conversation phrases from the client’s RFP or IO for the site identified for and/or included in the campaign media plan.

Mean-time Between Posts

The average (mean) time between posts for content containing conversation phrases from the client’s RFP or IO for the site identified for and/or included in the campaign media plan.